The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-12
Nearly All Freight Conductors and Brake
men Employed on the Road Banded To-
gether for the Purpose of Stealing.
More than 100000 Worth of Merchan-
disc Stolen from Trains on the Line.
Hundreds of Men Implicated, and Scores Ar
rested-How the Stealing Was Done. and
How the Criminals We're Captured.
A BIG BAND OF THIEVES.

PITTsBURG, April 1.-THE most important ar
rests ever made in this part OF the country were
begun at an early hour this morning. They will
not be completed before late this afternoon, and
at that time the officers Of the Panhandle rail-
road will have in custody the most daring gang
of railroad robbers this country has over known.
How many members belong to it is not known,
but they run up into the hundreds. Their steal
ings exten led over period of two three years,
and the amount stolen reaches nearly half a
million dollars Simultaneous arrests were made
all along the, line of the Panhandle road be-
tween here and Columbus. Warrants. have
been in the hands of officers for some time, and
the persons arrested will comprise nearly tho
entire freight men of the line. They include
the conductors. brakemen, engineers and fire.
men. The rinaleaders of the gang outside
the railroad business are known, and some of
them are now believed tc be under arrest.
The first arrests were made about 2 o'clock
this NOR ning the police surprising eighteen men
at their boarding houses The men were taken
at once to the Jail Further arrests were made
between o'clock and daylight, when fortysix
men, all railroad employees conductors, brake
men, fremen and engineers, were behind the
bars. In speaking OF the arrests promineL.
officer of tha Panhandle road said:
'For three years past the Panhandle road has
been systematically robbed. Cars on sidings
aud cars in moving trains were broken open and
goods stolen, including every description of mer-
chandise. 1t is estimated that at least $500, 600
worth of goods were taken for which the COM
papy had to pay. In August last we got clew.
and the company determined to push it to the
xrbo fa1i1 o1
up every scent, and finally We had the
information upon which to proceed. When
everything was ready decided to
make move all along the line
from Columbus to Pittsburg and 2 o'clock this
morning was fixed to strike the blow. About
eighty warrants were issued for men in Pitts
burg: / can't tell how many for other places. but
it was at every point along the line. 1t will run
up in the hundreds. Il is the biggest thing of
the kind that ever happened in Pittsburg, or in
railroad matters in the world, for nothing like
it has ever happened before. I cannot tell who
the men are under arrest or who the ring lead
ers are. This much I will say. however, we sus-
pect outsiders of being implicated in the rob-
berries, but know nothing positive"
Among those arrested was a man named
Baker, against whom there are thirty eight
charges. Early one morning. some months ago,
at Sheridan station, near this city, train was
stopped for water. An attack was made on the
crew, and in the fight the fireman was shot He
afterwards died from his injuries. At day
break it was found that two cars had been
broken open and their contents stolen. Baker
is accused Of firing the shot that killed the Gre-
man, and this is understood to be one Of the
shirty-eight charges against him.
John Fl. Hampton, attorney for the Penn
sylvania Company, was seen this morning
in the Office of the detective agency, where
sitting amidst a heterogeneous collection of the
plunder, he said: ''These robberes have been
carried on Systematically for several years The
company have long been aware that there was a
leakage somewhere. and as early as September,
1886, they quietly commenced investigations.
Detectives were placed on trains where the goods
could be watched and the thieves caught. We
have already discovered that the culprits were
employees of the company. 1n September there
were eighty crews of freight trains on the Pan
handle railroad coming into Pittsburc OF these
! eighty crews no less than seventy-fve were
| found to be crooked. A crew consists of a con
| ductor. fagman ana two brakemen. In some
part The statement that the engineers and fire.
men were mixed up in the robbery is wrong; not
a single one is involved. The goods were OBJ
tained by the thieves in various ways. In many
instances the seals were broken. while in others
hatchets were used to cut hole in the end Of the
car, through which the men could crawl and take
what they coveted. Then they reported the car
in bad condition, claiming that he hole had been
| made by accident The operations were all the
result of combinations. Arrangements were
/ carefully made, and each rascal was assigned to
his particular part of the work iu much the
same way a bank robbery is conducted by
professional cracksmen. do not know that the
members of the combination were oath bound OF
| anything of that kind. but it is certain that a
thorough understanding existed among them
aud they acted in concert to cover each Others
misdoings thing which alarmed us more
than anything else was that they stole larg,
quantities of whisky and drank it in tn,
cabooses They needed vessels to bold the
liquor. SO they stole milk-cans and kept it il
them. Not daring to keep whisky openly in the
cars, they tore up the flooring and hid it under
meath. Men were continually reported drunl
on duty. and the probability of disaster wa
kinds of goods were stolen, including sewin
machines. guns revolvers, cutlery silverware
cigars. clothing. liquors. groceries. furniture
and, in fact, every imaginable article that ca
be carried OF a car, quietly removed. TIL
| depredatlons were committed all along the road
and the losers reside at points as far west as Den
yer. Fences were established in this CITY, wher
the stolen property was taken and then sold, TIL
money being evenly divided among the crews
1t is impossible to give what the aggregate valu
of the property stolen is, but it will not reac
$500, 000, reported"
The arrests have created the greatest excite
| ment among the railroad employees of the city
The scenes about the Jail doors, this morning
where relatives of the prisoners gathered I
learn the cause of the arrests. were OF the sac
dest description. Wives, children, parents. brott
ers and sisters with tearstained faces, stoo
around the entrance TO the prison, eager to hes
tho latest developments, and pleading with th
officers for admission to the jail to see tn
prisoners
At o'clock ten more arrests were reported
They we're captured at the pay car, while recei'